Give Up, Or Else!

In Basra, Iraqi government forces have taken control of the “last bastions of the cleric Moktada al-Sadrs militia.” In Baghdad, too, government troops killed militants presumably loyal to Sadr in Sadr City.

In response to this string of setbacks, Sadr, the courageous cleric who is believed to be holed up somewhere in Iran, issued a “final warning” to the Iraqi government: give up, or else! Astonishingly, the “mainstream” press, which has mis-reported the current clashes between government and Sadrist troops from the beginning, reported Sadr’s threat straight.

Sadr’s “final warning” struck me more as parody. It reminds me of something, but I can’t quite think what. Oh yes, this is it: